Not having 24/7 turnout is not a criminal offence: expert speaks up about the growing pressure on owners

Having 24/7 turnout is not necessarily the best or only way for horses to live, an expert believes, and owners should not feel under pressure to provide this.

British Horse Society Fellow Tim Downes, joint owner of Ingestre Stables in Staffordshire, posted on social media about the growing trend to focus on 24/7 as the only acceptable option for horses.

He told H&H his decision to post on the issue was caused by two things.

“One is the massive increase in two types of posts on social media,” he said. “They’re either from horse owners desperate to move livery yards to somewhere that offers 24/7 turnout, or from researchers and scientists telling us that is the only way horses should live.

“I’ve now spoken at two or three conventions and symposiums, and there’s been somebody there telling people you can’t keep horses in ‘cages’ and they must all live out in the field all the time. So when I’ve spoken, I’ve said ‘I accept the theory behind what you’re saying, and I understand where you’re coming from, but you also have to understand that is how horses lived years ago, but you’re not rushing off to live in a cave.”

Mr Downes stressed that he is not saying horses should live in all the time, but that there seems to be a strengthening opinion that anything other than 24/7 turnout is bad.

“There is a growing pressure to label good horse welfare as one thing only: 24/7 turnout. Stable free. Always out. Always in a herd,” his Facebook post read. “But horses and horsemanship have never been that simple.

“Good welfare is not a slogan. It is observation. Context. Knowledge. Experience. And responsibility.”

Mr Downes pointed out that horses evolved to be moving and grazing, not to “stand for months in deep mud, extreme wet or frozen ground with no choice”.

“The uncomfortable truth is that there is no universal answer,” he wrote. “There is only informed decision-making done well, done honestly and reviewed constantly.

“Good welfare lives in the grey. Good horsemanship accepts that. Bad welfare often hides behind absolutes.”

He told H&H that there are some 50 horses at Ingestre; some do live out all the time, as that’s what they prefer, others come in as they are more comfortable doing that.

“The key skill is that people have to be able to read the horse,” he said. “But so much research, on all the things we do with horses, comes up with an answer I keep referring to as ‘one size fits all’, and that’s not how horses are,” he said.

“I’m saying develop the horsemanship, read the horse, read the signs and deal with the horse appropriately, but be real and be practical. Yes, horses do predominantly live better out but on good ground with shelter. They don’t live happily out 24/7 up to their knees in mud.

“I just wanted to get people to stop and think a bit. I see so many posts from people desperate for 24/7 turnout, willing to travel hours every day, and that’s ridiculous. If your horse isn’t living out all the time, it’s not a criminal offence.”

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